Hold Congress Accountable

Knowledge is power. It makes sure people understand what is happening to their country, and how they can make a difference. FreedomWorks University will give you the tools to understand economics, the workings of government, the history of the American legal system, and the most important debates facing our nation today. Enroll in FreedomWorks University today!

Search FreedomWorks

Resources

Blog

The Tea Party vs The Surrender Caucus

Championing an effort that is long overdue, Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) are leading a fight to put teeth into the cause of dismantling Obamacare. An effort that is ostensibly backed by every GOP member of Congress given the thirty odd votes the House of Representatives has taken to repeal Obamacare, Senators Cruz and Lee are exerting the only leverage available to Members of Congress, especially those whose party holds the majority in only one House of Congress: the power of the purse.

What is striking is the resistance Senators Cruz and Lee have received, not from Democrats, but from Republicans. Self-described budget hawk Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) declared the campaign to defund Obamacare to be “dishonest” and “hype”. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) called the effort “silly” and lacking “courage”. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) likened the effort to defund Obamacare to a “temper tantrum” and Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) suggested that such an effort was the “dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.” Sen. Burr’s comment is truly ironic because his spokesman reminds journalists of the several stand-alone bills the Senator has co-sponsored seeking to repeal Obamacare, bills that have never and will never receive a vote in a Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate. Senate Minority Whip and former National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) was an original signatory to Sen. Lee’s letter pledging not to vote for a spending bill that continues to fund Obamacare. However, Sen. Cornyn has since removed his name from the letter despite claiming to support the full repeal of Obamacare on his campaign re-election website and hiring a grassroots Tea Party activist to run his re-election campaign.

One reason proffered for why defunding Obamacare is a fool's errand is that the continuing resolution re-authorizing government spending at the end of September contains proportionally little spending on Obamacare. Perhaps. However, as Erick Erickson notes in RedState, there is nothing preventing Congress from attaching a rider to a continuing resolution rescinding subsidies for state exchanges and rescinding funding for Medicaid expansion. Further, there are considerable administrative and implementation costs yet to be incurred at the IRS and HHS that can be curtailed.

A second reason proffered is that President Obama will never sign a law curtailing his signature legislative accomplishment. Again, perhaps. However, with more Americans continuing to look disfavorably on Obamacare than ever before, it is incumbent upon Republicans to continue to make the case for why it should be repealed or curtailed. As Senator Cruz has said, Republicans “will lose 100% of the battles they begin by surrendering.” Further as Senator Lee points out, even President Obama has admitted that Obamacare is not ready for “prime time” by illegally delaying the employer mandate and choosing to selectively enforce the law. Consequently, since this selective enforcement benefits large businesses at the expense of individual consumers, Senator Lee argues that Congress should not reward this inequity by continuing to fund the implementation of the law.

Prominent Republican operatives like Karl Rove remain unconvinced by these arguments. Therefore the question remains, where do they draw the line? In National Review Online and on The Freedomcast, John Fund details the potential horrors of the new Federal Data Hub meant to combine the databases of several federal government agencies in order to help implement Obamacare. This data hub will be accessed by tens of thousands of Obama’s community activist supporters who will be permitted to view the confidential health and financial information of millions of Americans. If you are concerned about the abuses resulting from the recent IRS scandal, the Federal Data Hub has the potential to create abuses of that magnitude on steroids! Remember 2010 Delaware Republican U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell? Her tax records were accessed improperly by an unknown Delaware state official during a heated campaign season. Get ready for much more of that during the next election cycle.

Further, John Fund notes that contractors will not be subject to criminal background checks or be required to have earned high school diplomas. I imagine Karl Rove has confidence that President Obama will prevent felons convicted of fraud and identity theft from abusing their access to his confidential financial information or groups like Wikileaks from posting his confidential health records on the internet for all the world to see. If Republicans are unwilling to draw a line in the sand and defund the entirety of Obamacare, perhaps they might at least draw a line in the sand and defund the Federal Data Hub. Surely Congressional Republicans are able to articulate the inherent horrors of the Federal Data Hub and force President Obama and Congressional Democrats to explain their willingness to shut down the federal government over their insistence to fund this program.

As Senators Cruz and Lee have explained, the travesty of Obamacare is not just its effect on our health insurance market and our health care delivery system but on the broader economy. Obamacare is responsible for the largest expansion of part-time employment at the expense of full-time employment in our nation’s history and our lowest employment participation rate in decades. Even an Obamacare information call center in California is being staffed with part-time employees so as to avoid the requirement of having to provide these individuals with health insurance. Bankrupt cities like Detroit and near bankrupt municipalities across the nation are contemplating easing their financial burdens by dumping their employees into the health insurance exchanges thereby forcing federal taxpayers to subsidize the poor financial management of states and municipalities. Surely, Congressional Republicans can defend their decision to defund Obamacare by explaining how the law has contributed to persistently high unemployment.

The question remains, why are Congressional Republicans who claim to oppose Obamacare unwilling to stand tall and support this effort to defund the law? Perhaps the answer lies in a letter signed by over one hundred GOP donors urging Congress to pass so-called comprehensive immigration reform. Congressional Republicans seem so concerned that the possibility of a protracted fight with the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats over the budget might upset the possibility of passing a legislative priority for their donor base, that they have ignored the outcry from their voter base.

As Senator Cruz explained, this may be the last best chance to defund Obamacare before it goes into effect as President Obama’s strategy is to enroll as many people as possible getting them “addicted to the sugar” of subsidies. In fact, the Obama administration has announced that it will not verify income and rely on the honor system when determining whether new enrollees qualify for subsidies.

Paraphrasing Martin Luther King, Senator Coburn once said, “Cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right?” Help Congress find its conscience!

I'm behind the effort 100% of the way. However, to say that this is the last chance to stop Obamacare is not entirely accurate. Recently I watched an interview of Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD) from NextGeneration of PJMedia. He said in the interview that the law is so poorly set up that people won't be enrolling in it especially young people. The whole law is constructed on 2,700 pages! There's no way you can effectively implement something that big! Plus a majority of states about 33 or 34 have declined to set a state based exchange with some of them going into a federal partnership and 26 or 27 refusing to participate at all. So it's all the responsibility of the feds to take care of this monstrosity themselves. And it won't end well for them. When the federal government takes charge, usually things tend to crash big time. Same is true for Obamacare. It'll collapse on its own poorly constructed feet. Though I'm behind the effort to defund it if possible.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has run afoul of the law again, urging companies whose future she controls to donate to do work her agency lacks the funds to do. Congress has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate.

Rough week for the White House, huh? Trying to keep up with all these scandals is like drinking from a firehose and every day the water rushes out faster. And how did Obama respond to the right, left and center calling out his seemingly lawless behavior? With arrogance, of course.

Joining me today on the FreedomCast is CJ Ciamarella, reporter for the Washington Free Beacon. We’ll discuss the IRS scandal, the chilling effect it has on political dissent, and how Republicans should target big government and not Obama.
More on this topic:
IRS Targeting Timeline

Imagine going to the doctor with the flu and paying $30 for the visit and $10 for the medicine with no further medical bill. Now imagine going to the doctor and finding out you have cancer. You have enough money in the bank to deal with such a medical emergency and whatever you can’t cover, the federal government will pick up.

The hits just keep coming for President Obama’s beleaguered health care reform law. If you’ve had trouble keeping up with all of the bad news surrounding ObamaCare, I don’t blame you. For the sake of convenience, let’s take a look at some of this news and then consider the “big picture” for the floundering Affordable Care Act.

Author, comedian and podcaster extraordinaire Adam Carolla stumbled upon an important business insight: “I don't think I've ever seen pie advertised,” he said. “That's how you know it's good. They advertise ice cream and other desserts. They advertise the bejeezus out of yogurt, but I haven't seen one pie commercial.”The dirty little secret about advertising is that, in general, the better the product, the less you have to advertise.

The Obama administration has gone beyond the limits of Obamacare and has further raised taxes without approval from Congress. This move forces more low income Americans and struggling businesses to pay the mandate taxes. A lawsuit led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute seeks to force the IRS to obey the law as it is written.

Today on The FreedomCast, Avik Roy joins me to discuss the Oregon Medicaid study how it shatters liberal arguments for more money to improve health outcomes and why we can learn a thing or two from Singapore’s health care system.
More on this subject:

Democracy and Power 110: Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the HouseIn order to get power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness but with qualities that are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning, and cruelty. —Leo Tolstoy